Jamie Foxx: Too much power can be dangerous

Jamie Foxx plays an ex-soldier in “Project Power” —PHOTOS COURTESY OF NETFLIX

In his acceptance speech for one of the acting awards he won in his distinguished career, Jamie Foxx once paid tribute to his grandmother, who, he said, was his first acting coach. “Act like you’ve been somewhere,” he recalled her coaching him. And Oscar-winning multihyphenate has truly been around, and certainly “somewhere” a lot of people in his line of work can only dream about.

In 2005 alone, when Jamie won a Golden Globe for his career-boosting portrayal of Ray Charles in Taylor Hackford’s “Ray,” he was also cited for his performances in two other productions: Michael Mann’s white-knuckle thriller “Collateral” and Vondie Curtis-Hall’s true-to-life gangster TV movie, “Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story.” What a remarkable three-in-one feat!

More than that, the actor says he doesn’t take his triumphs for granted. His good nature and humility were once again on full display when we “met” Jamie, with his “Project Power” costar Dominique Fishback in tow, during a virtual video interview on Zoom last week to discuss their participation in the superhero film, which premiered on Netflix last Friday. It isn’t hyperbole to say that Jamie belongs to a rare breed of celebrity interviewees you can’t get enough of—in fact, to lighten and brighten the virtual proceedings, the actor began and ended our chat with a song whose melodic hook we couldn’t immediately shake out of our head.

And while we were given enough time with him, it felt “bitin,” as a lovely colleague from another publication succinctly noted, because the 52-year-old star made the whole exchange feel like we were just shooting the breeze.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (second fromright) with (fromleft) Courtney B. Vance and directors Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost

In the movie, Jamie portrays Art aka the Major, an ex-soldier on a one-man mission to look for his missing daughter Tracy, who was kidnapped by a syndicate (led by Rodrigo Santoro) selling drugs that can turn its users into super-powered human beings—but only for five minutes! The experimental power pill, which can have deadly side effects, is being tested by the syndicate in the streets of New Orleans before Biggie and his cohorts can begin distributing the “financially lucrative” merchandise all across America.

During the interview, Jamie pointed out the warnings that have to be heeded when dealing with people who are given a great amount of power and influence.

“A pill that gives its user pure power can be dangerous, especially if it falls in the hands of someone who won’t use it for something good. So, that’s a bit of a metaphor. Anybody can have power, but what’s important is how you use it. Do you want to spread love into the world, or pump hate and confusion?”

The world in its present state is in chaos, Jamie admits, but “we did this movie two years ago. We weren’t really foreshadowing where we are now, you know? If you look at the people who are at the top of the power chain, you wonder what they’re going to use the power for? Will they use it to help humanity or break humanity in half?

“In my case, if power comes to me, I’d like to turn into (breaks into song) … ‘Love-Man, Love-Man, Love-Man! Someone call Love-Man, and spread love around the world!’ ‘Look up in the sky!’ You see how even my shirt begins to open up? I will spread the love to everyone. I’ll start a production number, then I will begin singing, then we all can dance. So, yes, I’m ready to spread the love. And I’m glad you picked up on it, but yes, that was definitely [meant to be] a metaphor.

Foxx (left) with Dominique Fishback

“Then, you know what I’ll do? I’m going to give all the love to the world leaders because [given the situation the whole world is in right now] I don’t think they have felt love in a while. I don’t think they really feel like what it is to be counted on for … for clarity and for empathy. I’m gonna give it all—I’ll give a huge dose of that and I will tell you right now, I’m not going to be pussyfooting around when it comes to being (sings again) ‘Love-Man, Love-Man, Love-Man.’”

For her part, Dominique said that if she were to be given any power of her choice, it’d be along the line of her passion for the arts. “I’ve always had this [talent] in me, so I’d use my ability to rhyme and write spoken-word poetry, similar to what my character Robin does in the movie. I would make incantations and spells.”

Jamie’s fondness for Dominique became even more apparent when asked how they got along on the set.

“OK, I have to say this. When you do a movie, every once in a while, you run into a young talent who has the ability to shake up the world,” Jamie said. “With the release of ‘Project Power,’ that’s what Dominique will do. She was so amazing in this, and she’ll be standing in front of an audience saying these words, ‘I’d like to thank the members of the Academy…’ She will really say that—mark my words!

“Because, as she was performing in the movie, I saw her do something incredible when it came to her emotional radar. So, I called up my sister, who works on all those Marvel films, and I said to her, ‘Look out for this girl. She’s going to ‘kill’ it!’ By seeing that, it energized me as a person. I wanted to be there to make sure she had whatever she needed to help make that happen in this movie.”

Fishback portrays a drug-dealing teenage mole

Without us noticing, Jamie began using his answer to ease into what seemed like a standup-comedy routine portion of the interview that had Dominique giggling nonstop and us rolling in the aisle with laughter.

“Dominique and I started hanging out, singing, kicking it and just having a good time,” Jamie said. “And you could feel that this evolving relationship was being transferred to the screen. She told me she was a ‘pescatarian.’ So I said, ‘Well, I’m a Baptist!’ Now there I was, not understanding that it’s really about what she eats (fish). I was like, ‘Well, hallelujah!’ But she said it meant fish. I said, ‘OK, I’m on it.’ At some point, they brought her an all-meat dish. It was like ribs and uncooked cow. I was like, ‘No! She’s a pescatarian! We must respect a religion!’”

Dominique also had fond memories of the first time she met Jamie.

“For me, [our bond] started as soon as I got out the car and I met him just before the chemistry read,” The 29-year-old actress recalled. “I was there for my audition, and it was like the last moment before you’ll know if you get the part or not. So, there was a lot of pressure at that point.

“I was trying to decide if I was gonna ‘fangirl’ when I see Jamie or act like a professional, with my Brooklyn swag on. Then, I realized I couldn’t! As soon as I saw him, I just yelled, ‘Mr. Jamie Foxx…!’ Like, there he was on the flesh right in front of me! I couldn’t control myself (laughs).

“When I got into the room, Jamie was so supportive and we just had a blast. He actually asked me if I could rap like Robin, and I said no. So, I just seized the chance to do my spoken-word poetry, instead. He’s amazing and I feel so honored to do my first big movie on Netflix—and it’s with Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levin. I don’t know how it can get better than that!”

Did they meet their expectations for the film?

“Oh, we met our expectations with flying colors,” Jamie quipped, laughing. “Because if you think about these types of movies, they don’t work unless the chemistry of the cast is good—more than any special effects. Take Joseph and that [smoldering] look he has. You know that face, right?

“I stared at him when Joseph got on set. I knew he felt weird, but I told him I just couldn’t believe I was working with him—which was great. The same is true with Dominique, Machine Gun Kelly and Rodrigo Santoro. All these people just have great acting impulses. And when you have a set like that, it isn’t impossible to meet your expectations. Everything rests now in the way the movie plays out for viewers. “People are enjoying the film, you know? Dominique doesn’t know this, but they were screening the film for some people to grade it. And when Dominique does her thing—rapping, freestyle—the chart goes up instantly!”